Extraordinary: Fanning the Flames
by Catharmel
Summary: The word 'extra' is defined in the dictionary as something additional to what was expected. In the story we all know, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. The balance was restored, but through blood and loss and trial. In this story, he has something a little… extra on his side. AU, Zuko/OC
1. Prologue

**Extraordinary: Fanning the Flames**

**Summary: **The word 'extra' is defined in the dictionary as something additional to what was expected. In the story we all know, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. He popped out of an iceberg, and the balance was restored, but through blood and loss and trial. In this story, he has something a little… _extra_ on his side. Zuko/OC

_There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle._ _- Deepak Chopra_

**Prologue**

* * *

"S-sister Ashanti… I-I asked Sister K'rika for some of the ch-cherry pie she madet'day," a little girl stuttered out bashfully, little hands tugging on the Sister's long skirts. Her long dark hair blocked hair face from the older woman, who peered down at the blushing child.

"Yes, dear girl? And what did she say?" Sister Ashanti smiled warmly at the girl, half wondering if she had ever been so small, so young. She bent down so she was the same height as the girl, and brushed the hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ears neatly. The child was revealed to be Akari, one of Sister Ashanti's favorite children, and one of the quietest in the entire Western Air Temple. That is, unless she was in the company of her more… _rambunctious_ brother, Aang. The Western Air nomads were very close to the Southern Air nomads, which was good for Akari. She never talked quite so much as when she was playing with her younger brother.

Akari glanced up into Sister Ashanti's eyes, frowning a little. "She said that I cud have a slice of… Of the 'eggstrah'. I-I said 'Thank you', but Sister, what's 'eggstrah'?" Akari was so adorable, Ashanti mused to herself, that she sometimes wished she was her child. Of course, with the way Air Nomad culture was, it didn't matter that she wasn't her biological child. She was probably the closest thing Akari had to a mother, and it was moments like this one that reminded her of that.

"Extra, my dear Akari," Sister Ashanti said softly, "It means something… _More _than what you planned on. In this case, Sister Karika baked one pie more than she planned, and that is the only reason you didn't have to wait until supper with the rest of us." The normally calm Sister had a playful, teasing glint in her eyes. Akari was so much fun to tease, and she made it a point to do so often.

"I – S-sorry, Sister Ashanti!" Akari squeaked out. "But the cherry pie was so yummy, and, and, and– " The girl was cut off by a playful scream, as Sister Ashanti gave chase, and any thought of further apology was gone.

"I want some cherry pie, too, Akari! Come here!"

"Nooooooo! I already ate it!"

"I'll just have to _tickle_ it out of you!"

* * *

The sound of laughter and squealing rose up, above the courtyard the two had been speaking in, to reach the ears of those above. Three elderly women, dressed in thick yellow robes despite the heat, were speaking softly. The Elders of the Western Air Temple did not often have time to leave their work and watch the children, but they made exceptions.

"The sister of the Avatar…"

"Yes, she shall do well in aiding him, I believe. Akari is a young girl still, but she already shows herself to be more than proficient in Airbending. Look at how she evades the Sister."

"Indeed. Master Piyana says she expects the child to exceed her in only a few years. We have a prodigy in front of us, my Sisters."

"She shall need it," Kaliya, the one who had spoken up first observed. "She will be the one to accompany the Avatar, and aid him on his journeys. That much, I can see."

The other two were silent. Kaliya had been born on a stormy night, when the winds blew most strong, and she had a stronger connection to their element than most. It was rumored that the wind spoke to her, and she could sometimes get glimpses of what would come, from the breeze that spoke of time and far-away things.

"May the Spirits bless them both," Kaliya invoked softly. "Somehow… I have the feeling they will need it. The winds will not be calm, for them."

* * *

**Author's Note**: This is a rewrite of a story I wrote once on a different account, but that was absolutely terrible. It's been, what, three years since that, so I've decided to give it another go. Reviews are rewarded with cookies! And milk, to dunk them in. ;) Really, I want to know what you think. Drop me a line.


	2. Running Towards the Future

**Extraordinary: Fanning the Flames**

**Summary: **The word 'extra' is defined in the dictionary as something additional to what was expected. In the story we all know, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. He popped out of an iceberg, and the balance was restored, but through blood and loss and trial. In this story, he has something a little… _extra_ on his side. Zuko/OC

**Warning: **Absolutely nothing gory or explicit, but slight mentions of death.

_Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live._ _- Norman Cousins_

* * *

**Chapter One: Running Towards the Future**

* * *

_He was… _

Akira couldn't bring herself to think the word 'dead'. That felt like it would make it come true, somehow.

_Gone_, she thought instead. It felt easier, more natural to feel like her brother had been lost, instead of _lost_. It might even be true; she wasn't exactly sure. Her brother-sense wasn't always completely accurate, but besides that… There hadn't been a body, you see.

_Well, not Aang's body, anyway,_ Akira winced. There had been plenty others. Monk Gyatso, who had gone with the two siblings as they travelled the Four Nations. Monk Tashi, whom she had never wanted _dead_, no matter how many times she and Aang had pranked him for being so uptight. Of course, she realized now that he must have been right.

She and Aang, even Gyatso, had laughed off the seemingly over-concerned Elder. Tashi had been worried about the whispers of war, and had tried to push Aang into harder and more regulated training. A small, shameful part of Akira wondered if everything wouldn't have turned out the way it had, if Aang had been better prepared. If _she_ had been better prepared.

Thinking rationally, of course, she had done the smart thing. She was pretty good, but she was nowhere near being a Master Airbender. She would have been minced sprouts for the soldiers. She told herself that, but that didn't stop the guilt.

_Coward_, her conscience whispered. _You __**ran **__**away**__. You ran away, and you __**left them to die**__. _

_For help_, she thought, and her hands shook as they held the reins of the ostrich horse she now rode. She swerved to the left for one terrifying moment, but an irritated click of her tongue, along with a quick blow of wind, got the animal back on course. The Earth Kingdom had some strange animals… If she hadn't lost her flying bison, Sceo…

Akira snapped the reins again, focusing her thoughts. _Yes, _she had run away. To _get help_. How was she supposed to know that it hadn't just been the Western Air Temple? She had snuck away, running for days – _horrible, fearful days, where she'd spent every moment focusing on the next step forward_ – she'd had to leave Sceo, and take her glider. The bison would've been too conspicuous, and she'd been trying to _survive, just long enough until she could get help.._.

And then she'd found out she really _was_ alone, so much for that. She hadn't even arrived in time to help them fight. The only battle she could take part in was the battle against her stomach. The sight of all the bodies left on the floor, bodies that had _so recently just been __**people**_… It had been a massacre. She'd tried to find Aang first thing. When she didn't find him among the dead, she had hope he was among the living.

She could _feel_ something; his heart had stopped, his energy had stopped breathing, yes, but… But there was _something_ there. A spirit, perhaps. She was his sister; they'd grown up together, and she _knew _him. And yet he was lost, they all were.

And all because she hadn't been strong enough.

Because the Air Nomads hadn't been strong enough.

The Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, the North and South Water Tribes… All of them had armies. All of them trained warriors, fighters, people to protect the civilians from the terrors of war.

It was all too clear for Akari. The reason the Air Nomads had been defeated so easily was because Air, itself, was a defensive element; it was not easily used in combat, or if it was, the Nomads hadn't thought to use it that way. They had relied too much on the height of their Temples, without any focus on their own might.

They hadn't been strong enough. It was as simple as that. Which was why Akira needed to learn how to protect herself. She would never be so weak as to need to run away again. _Never again_.

* * *

She was on her way to meet some of the other surviving Air Nomads. There had been murmurings of a refuge… A place for the people who had been quick enough, or lucky enough, to have kept their lives beyond the night of Sozin's Comet. She'd gotten the information from a few of the more daring Earth Kingdom citizens, who were disturbed at what the Fire Nation had done. They had been happy enough to give one of the Last Airbenders an Ostrich Horse and some food.

_If things had been simpler_, Akira mused, _she would have been properly thankful at the goodwill the people had shown her. It had to have been dangerous for them, what with the Earth Kingdom – and the Water Tribes – at War with the Fire Nation, but even more so if they'd helped the Air Nomads. Unfortunately, Akira had seen far too much, far too quickly, and she was in no mood to be grateful._

Even more unfortunately, things only got worse.

* * *

It was the same scene over again, but worse. This time, she had allowed herself once more the luxury of hope – _stupid, stupid stupid stupid_, she chastised herself, as if the tears in her eyes and the burning in her throat wasn't reprobation enough. She had known the ostrich horse wasn't very quick, but she had made that up by travelling through nights. The anticipation of being with her People again had been tangible, a quickening in her pulse, a growing lightness in her step.

And then, of course, she'd come upon the sight of soldiers in black and red, burning the remains of several familiar-looking people. People wearing yellow, people wearing _Air Nomad yellow_. It had been a trap. Simple to see now, in hindsight, to realize that if there would have been a refuge, it wouldn't have been so near the cities. So near the Fire Nation border.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid_, she cursed. For all her promising to become strong, she had planned on training with the other Nomads, once she'd heard of them. _Deliberate rumors, meant to lure those who wanted them to be true the most_, she thought, but pushed it away. She hadn't expected something like this so soon, and _that_ was the kick in the gut. She wasn't ready, she was exhausted – _Let them plan on getting rest where you want them, a perfect trap – _and she had no choice. She bended herself back onto the ostrich horse, not trusting her legs, and set off Westward. If she was going to do this, she needed help.

* * *

It had been nearly two years since that night. It had felt much shorter, though, to Akari. Time flew by too quickly when she spent it studying, learning, and training. Anything that could help; anything she could use to help. She was still determined to find a way for Airbenders to _fight_ using their element, and she had nearly perfected it. All too often Air had been used for defense, or evasion, but Akira was absolutely, positively _done_ with running away. She had run twice, both times for her survival and that of the Air Nomads, and she was now going to ensure it.

She had spent her time in the Palace of Ba Sing Se. She had taken refuge there with some of her best friends, Crown Prince Bumi and Princess Sela. Over the months she had spent there, she passed the most time in the Royal Library and the Princess's Training Grounds. Nearly nobody knew she was there, and she was free to prepare herself.

Her days spent learning, both mentally and physically, had taught her about Air: the basic necessity for all life to, well, _live_. Air was something you took for granted, something you forgot about until it disappeared. Something that didn't seem important until it wasn't there anymore.

And Akira was hell bent on making it disappear, for those who had made the Air Nomads disappear. She would take their breath as they had taken the breath of her family and friends and people.

_But how to do it?_

If she attacked now, a year after the Massacre, she would surely be apprehended by the Fire Nation. She had earned her Air Mastery (at least, she thought she had), but one Air Bender could not win a war. And it did not look like the Earth Kingdom-Water Tribe Alliance was going to win, either. Besides revenge, she had to think about staying alive… It did not escape her that she was very possibly the last hope of reviving the Air Nomads.

And while people had been eager to help her right after the Massacre, it was a different scene now that war had hit them. People knew now what it was like to lose those they loved, to lose their comfort and safety. They were scared, afraid for themselves… And Akira did not blame them. Still, help would be a scarce commodity.

No, she could not do it now.

Do it now, and she would appear lucky. An accident, someone they overlooked. She would be found, and they would make an example of her.

Do it later, and she would be _**Legend**_. How had she escaped? Where had she come from? They would laugh her off as rumors, but lock their windows at night in fear of her.

She made up her mind.

* * *

"Thank you, Hama," Akari said sincerely. "Really, I hope you know how much I appreciate this. Not many Waterbenders would agree to freezing the last Airbender and throwing her into the ocean."

Hama shook her head, braided loops of black hair falling into her eyes. "I won't pretend I completely understand, Kari, but you're my friend, and I'd do anything for a friend. Especially when said friend would be hunted down and killed if I didn't." There was a wry look in her eyes that would have been funnier, had it not been absolutely true. Akari had messed up on her way to the Northern Water Tribe, and had a nasty run-in with a Fire Nation ship.

She'd had to change route and head for the Southern Tribe instead. Not her preferred destination, considering the fact that they weren't nearly as well-equipped to defend themselves if she brought along trouble, but she wasn't going to lead them straight to the North Pole. At least this way, she'd gotten to see Hama, too. They had become close friends before the war, and now the war had brought them back together.

_I really will miss her_, Akira thought with a soft smile.

"Now," Hama said briskly, rubbing her seal-mittens together for both warmth and purpose, "Do you have everything you need with you?"

"Water, check. Food, check. Clothes, check. Blankets, check."

Hama let out a soft, nervous laugh. "You _have_ to find me when you thaw, alright? Though I'm not exactly looking forward to seeing you, young and energetic, while I'm old and wrinkly…"

"Of course. You'll be one of the first people I look for," Akari promised. "You remember the message?"

"The codes we've come up with to make sure we're both who we say we are? Yes, of course, 'The moon shines bright when clouds blow behind it – '"

"No, no," Akari cut her off, biting her lip nervously, "You can't mean to say – "

"Relax," Hama said calmly, placing a steady hand on Akari's shoulder. "I was joking, trying to lighten up the mood. Of course I remember, Kari, don't think so lightly of me. 'When the time comes that people are ready to fight'. I'll pass it down to my children if I must. We won't forget about you."

Akari exhaled noisily, and a cloud of frost escaped her lips like a sigh. "I know you know. Thank you, Hama, I cannot thank you enough. Really, I know how much you risk here. Remember, too, to tell all the rest – "

"That we went fishing, and you died," Hama said smoothly, wrapping her arms around her friend in one last hug. "Attacked by an elephant-shark, and it swallowed everything. I tried to bend, but it was all ice, and I will be training my fingers off for the next few months until that isn't a weakness anymore."

Akari sighed, but there was a smile on her face. "And it's completely coincidence that the ice also helps in, say, you sticking me into deep storage." She shook her head, and pulled her sealskin rucksack closer to her body. "Let's do this now, Hama."

"Very well, Kari. Should I record your last words, for posterity?" There was an almost imperceptible tremor in Hama's voice, even as she raised her arms up in a Waterbending stance. The waves cracked through the ice they stood on, and moved to encase Akari on the small iceberg she stood on.

"Don't be ridiculous, we've tested this on plants and seals. It will be fine, Hama, I trust you. But for posterity's sake… Let's see how long your Granny's Dried Meat really lasts, huh?"

* * *

**Author's Note**: My, is it good to have gotten through this. This is, officially, where my first draft three years ago ended. That's right, we are officially entering uncharted territory from here on. Good news is, I'm definitely having fun with this, and I'm quite excited about writing something like a different take on A:tLA. I mean come on, Aang definitely wasn't as affected as he could have been - he didn't witness anything, for one thing, and when he realized what'd happened it was history. Akira, on the other hand, was all optimistic and ready to be saved _twice_, and she got let down both times. Horribly. She'll be darker, definitely, and stronger because of that. Weaker, too, emotionally, and I'm getting writer's tingles about how she and Zuko will bond over both having darker-than-usual pasts.

Reviewers get cake! (Maybe I'll get more feedback if I switch up the offerings a bit?) I love you guys!


	3. And the Fighting Will Rage

**Extraordinary: Fanning the Flames**

**Summary: **The word 'extra' is defined in the dictionary as something additional to what was expected. In the story we all know, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. He popped out of an iceberg, and the balance was restored, but through blood and loss and trial. In this story, he has something a little… _extra_ on his side. Zuko/OC

_We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender._ _- Winston Churchill_

* * *

**Chapter Two: And the Fighting Will Rage**

* * *

It was only a few short months after that when the Fire Nation attacked. A small fishing canoe had nearly crashed into the dock, the men on board shouting of a Fire Nation fleet just off the coast. The Waterbenders and the Warriors had moved into action, getting into formation and stance, while the children, the elderly, and the civilians were brought together at the center of the city.

They Water Tribes had declared war on the Fire Nation several years ago, but this was the first time ships had come to the South Pole. They had heard news of the Northern Water Kingdom being under attack, but it had not fallen; and considering the strength of its military, it was not likely to. There was a martial character to their culture; the men were the leaders, and the women followed them and were protected by them. The South was more socially relaxed, but perhaps the blooming of culture and arts, the focus on songs and tradition had left them militarily weaker than their sister tribe.

_They didn't have many Benders__**, **__for one_, Hama thought to herself in annoyance. _And the ones they did weren't exactly all Masters_. Hama was one of those few, and so she was to be at the center of the imminent fighting. _Before that, though_…

"Kanna!" Hama gasped, leaning against the catching her breath against the poles of Kanna's tent. "Kanna, need to tell you something important."

The young woman, who had been burying some food into the ground beneath the floor mats, stopped to look at her guest. "Hama, what, you're supposed to be leading your squad!" She stood up, arms akimbo and lips turned down in a frown.

"No time," Hama forced out – Kanna had always been too chatty. She placed her hands on the younger woman's shoulders, and looked her steadily in the eyes. "The Avatar's sister lives," she spoke slowly and clearly, "There's information written on a scroll, hidden in my spare dagger sheath. Look under the nest of that penguin you play with all the time, it's buried seven feet under the snow. You _**must **_read it, and do exactly as it says, do you hear me, Kanna? _**Lives depend on it**_, all right?"

Kanna was shaken, and rightly so. Hama was generally an easy-going person, and it took quite a bit to make her as serious as she was being. Of course, things _were_ serious. They were at the beginnings of a War.

"Yes," she said breathily, shocked and afraid and anxious and worrying, "Whatever it is, I'll do it. I swear it by the light of the moon."

"Good," Hama said, and then she hurried to help lead the fight. Kanna was left to hide the rest of the valuables and the food, with only the terrible sense of danger, that things were only going to get worse.

* * *

Though the raid hadn't gone off without losses – at least ten Waterbenders and several soldiers had been taken or killed, though it was much the same, as they had no way of rescuing them – Hama hadn't been one of them.

She rose through the untimely-emptied ranks, taking the place of her Master to help lead the fighting. The Waterbenders and the Warriors strategized, planned, and trained. They had lost some of the best, though, and things weren't going to be easy. The Fire Nation sent more and more ships, and while they'd been able to hold them off at first – they were better prepared, now, and could form the lines as quickly as anything – they were being picked off, bit by bit, until it was obvious who was going to win.

They'd had a falling out with the Northern Water Kingdom, who'd refused to send help. _It was too far_, they'd said; _We would not send our men to die. However, here are some scrolls on military strategy and Waterbending techniques_ –

**Useless**. By that point, they'd lost so many that there were only a dozen Waterbenders left, nowhere near enough for the strategy to take out a fleet of Firebenders and well-trained soldiers. There were more Warriors, but the Fire Nation soldiers had come wearing impeccable armor, the likes of which spears and boomerangs could not pierce. Apparently they had learned about the Water Tribe's fighting techniques, as every attempt and every plan to get the better of the Fire Nation failed.

While Kanna hadn't had to use Hama's hastily informed secret that first time, it wasn't long before she did. The final raid had been painfully quick; Fire Nation strategy seemed to be something along the lines of _strike fast, strike hot_, because they came, and they saw, and they conquered. They left flames burning down homes and melting away walls, they lashed out with quick, furious spears that cut through skin and veins. They killed, and they pillaged, and they kidnapped.

It was a small, desolate village that Hama looked out on, the Southern Water Tribe's Last Waterbender. Her hands and feet were in hot iron chains, but even without them she didn't think she'd have been able to move. What had once been the great, flourishing city of a bright and beautiful culture was melted, vaporized with the burn of hate and heat. There were no more Waterbenders, and if there were to be any more, they would be taken as well.

The last face Hama saw as she boarded the Fire Nation ship was Kanna's, eyes filled with unshed tears and lips quivering – _no_, Hama thought with fond surprise, _Kanna was stronger than that, she was mouthing something…_

'_**I won't forget.'**_

* * *

**Author's Note:** It's been awhile, hasn't it? The great trouble with writers is that nobody is ever really _just_ a writer, I think; we have to be daughters or sons and friends and students or workers, too. Getting this out of the way; a bit short, I know, but that's so we can establish what's happening before catching up to canon - and I am _excited _for canon! :D Love you readers and reviewers and alerters and favers!


End file.
